The present invention relates to a method for producing a tape or band for wrapping around packages wherein the tape is made of a thermoplastic resin, and is printed thereon, and is usually operated upon for packaging by a packaging machine.
Conventionally, packaging tapes with printings thereon have been produced by an extrusion method in which thermoplastic resin material is formed into a flat-surfaced tape and then the tape is treated with a printing device so as to print a desired figures and/or marks thereon.
However, it has been found that the conventional method has defects not only in that the tape itself presents a serious disadvantage but also in that one fails to obtain the desired printing. Specifically, when the packaging tape of thermoplastic resin materials is extruded and extended up to 5-7 times as long as the original length of the materials in the lengthwise direction, the micelle particle arrangement is produced within the resin materials in the lengthwise direction, thereby often producing objectionable cracks or splits in the lengthwise direction of the extruded resin material. Furthermore, it has been found that the printings on the tape are faded out during a packaging operation by a packaging machine, which will be described below, since the tape has a flat surface and moreover the tape is printed on the flat surface thereof.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a new method for producing a thermoplastic resin packaging tape which has printings thereon, wherein the printing does not fade out or discolor but keeps the printings in a desired manner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new method for producing a packaging tape which is made of thermoplastic resin materials and has printings thereon, wherein the printed tape prevents the resin tape from cracking or splitting in the lengthwise direction.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method for producing a thermoplastic synthetic resin tape for packaging, comprising the steps of forming a tape, annealing the tape, printing the tape on the surface thereof, and pressing the tape to effectively disorder the micelle particle arrangement in the tape.